Do you remember how you made me so angry when we were sunbathing once? And how you got me my favourite sweeties to apologise afterwards, even though I was the one being a baby? We drank half a bottle of tequila later and devoured an entire watermelon. That's all we really ate and drank that summer, wasn't it?

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2014

Facebook recently reminded me of the time we spent together in Paris and bathed in the lights of the Eiffel Tower. But it won't know that the only store on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées we went in was H&M.

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2016

The happiest day of my life was the day you asked me to stay with you forever in that beautiful Italian village. The one that nobody knows took us three train rides, a bus and twenty minutes walking uphill with our luggage to get to. The one that we only went to because of our favourite video games.

Facebook only knows about the ring. But I guess anyone can tell that I'd go back there in a heartbeat.

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2012

And you, do you still smile when you remember waiting in line after a ten-hour drive to see that band play live in Vienna? You had the funniest look on your face when you realised we'd left our cameras behind. I wish I could have taken a picture of it.

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2011

Us, schoolgirls aged fourteen to sixteen, sweet-talking our way into a club in Nice past midnight. We never got in, so we sat in our shoebox hotel room and watched Spirited Away. Growing up is an odd concept.

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2014

It was the first photo of all of us together, smiling, having a good time. I untagged myself from it for superficial reasons. I still remember coming out of the club and realising that the first snow of the year was falling. We weren't even cold in our mini-dresses. We walked home in silence, admiring how the street lights illuminated every snowflake. All the world was a snow globe, and all the men and women merely watched in silence. Listening. Thinking. Feeling.

This is the confession of a fantasy geek: 80% of the time, sci-fi absolutely horrifies me. It might be the literary link between science fiction and dystopias that subconsciously makes me fear futuristic science. Or maybe I was too young to watch The War of the Worlds when I first did. In any case, an otherwise perfectly acceptable scenario becomes unbearable to me if you present it alongside advanced AI, space travel and overwhelmingly dark blue and grey imagery.
Unless it's Portal 2, in which case I will gladly allow the above mentioned AI to imprison me, perform experiments with (on) me, and insult every aspect of my existence in the most eloquent and witty manner possible. Given the popularity of this puzzle-platformer, I doubt it requires any introduction whatsoever and the only issue I have with it is that it isn't longer. I am careful not to play it constantly, because I want to retain the goosebumps I get when I see GLaDOS wake up, and the feeling of accomplishment after completing a particularly challenging test chamber. It is also one of the few games I have in which co-op greatly enhances the experience because you usually find the perfect balance between brainstorming ideas and just pranking each other.

OUTLANDER

Despite my attraction to all things related to the folklore and history of Celtic nations, Outlander was certainly not love at first sight. The concept of falling through time, the slow introduction to the plot, and the first-person narration fooled me into thinking that this would be another cliché chick flick with wildly inaccurate historical flavouring. Oh, boy, I like being wrong sometimes.
I was, surprisingly, hooked by the third episode, and it grew into pulling all nighters during the semester so I could watch it on Netflix. I even made an outfit post inspired by Claire Fraser. Granted, I cannot confirm nor deny the historical accuracy of the book or the original novels - Celtic studies are a pastime for me and I haven't got that far! I do, however, love the effort put into the character depth, though they have definitely sacrificed a few layers of it for Captain Jack Randall, making him an irredeemably evil two-dimensional persona. Nevertheless, I love me a strong female lead and a red-headed man in a kilt.

In case anybody here is unaware of the existence of one of my closest friends, this is Mi and I, being a horrible person, frequently pester her to update her plus-size-fashion blog On the Plus Side. Partly because she's such a good model and badarse chick. Mostly, though, it's a good excuse to hang out with her and soak up some rays of sunshine. You don't meet a person as bright (in any literal and metaphorical senses of the word) as her often. Sadly, I must warn any international readers that her blog is only available in Bulgarian. However, as fun as her writing is to follow, the main point of a fashion blog of any sort is the images, right? Right?

wagamama

Taken by Mi

On the 27th of March, one of my favourite places to eat finally opened in Sofia, Bulgaria, and it is everything I expected and wanted it to be. The British chain specialises in Japanese-inspired cuisine and, since its founding, has grown to have over 140 restaurants in various locations of the world. The atmosphere of the one in Bulgaria is, so far, the closest to an authentic Japanese restaurant I've seen (or so I've been told - I've never been to Japan myself), and the food is divine. I was thrilled to find out that my usual order of a Yasai Ramen and a Super Green fresh juice has been recreated to perfection here. With the exception of certain localised drinks, such as their ginger beer and their elderflower juice, everything here tastes just as good as the ones I have tried in Britain. The only difference is the price-to-monthly-earnings ratio, which will make this a rare treat for the average Bulgarian worker. Still, with the portions being as large as they are, I could very well skip most other meals of the day after a bowl of ramen.

Finally, I will conclude this favourites post with the most unnecessarily expensive gift I have ever given myself: the wireless cat-ear headphones from Brookstone.com. And, despite being judged very harshly by anybody who chooses quality over effects, I am absolutely enamoured with them. The ears can change to speakers which top the quality of any portable speakers I've had so far (though obviously not of proper ones), and the LED lights have the option to change their colour, as well as flash to the beat of the music you're currently listening to. Most obvious of all, however, is that they are absolutely adorable. I mostly use them indoors to listen to Spotify through my computer, which feels like a massive waste of their potential. However, I am very careful when I do take them outside since, as comfortable as they genuinely are, they are a bit top-heavy and a bit less balanced than regular headphones and could probably slide off, or get caught on something. At least all the photos I keep taking of them kind of compensate for this lack of attention.